—ZymoGenetics (NASDAQ: ZGEN) released some bad news first thing Monday morning in an SEC filing, in which it said its partner, Merck KGaA, pulled the plug on a couple of trials for an experimental drug for multiple sclerosis called atacicept. This is just the latest in a string of setbacks for this drug, which was once the shining star in the Zymo pipeline.

—Redmond, WA-based Spiration, the maker of a minimally invasive device for treating chronic lung diseases, raised another $7 million in debt financing to keep supporting its work to commercialize the device in Europe and complete a pivotal trial in the U.S.

—Larry Corey, a scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and world leader in the quest to develop an HIV vaccine (he’s also an Xconomist), weighed in this week with an editorial about why he’s encouraged by findings of a clinical trial of a vaccine that protected about one out of every three people tested.